President Leonel Fernández appointed a committee to follow up on the process to privatize the maritime and air ports of the country. The members of the committee are: TV producer Freddy Beras Goico, lawyer Jottin Cury, journalist Ramón Bonaparte Gautreaux, the president of the Colegio Dominicano de Ingenieros, Arquitectos y Agrimensores, Alejandro Montás and Reverend Braulio Portes. The committee seeks to guarantee that there is transparency in the selection of those to benefit from the concessions to be granted by the government. The government is considering privatization including contract management or long- term lease, not sale. Airports to be privatized are the Las Americas, Herrera, Gregorio Luperón in Puerto Plata, María Montez in Barahona and Arroyo Barril in Samana. La Romana and Punta Cana have been privately owned since their first opening and are very successful operations. The government estimates that investments of more than RD$2,300 million are necessary to expand and improve Dominican airports, and the state seeks to attract private capital to make the necessary investments. The government seeks to improve operating efficiency and airport revenues, as well as airport amenities with the privatization. The committee was appointed after the World Bank and the Interamerican Development Bank objected how the government was going about the privatization of the ports. The executive director of the Dominican Port Authority, which overseas maritime ports, was recently removed in the government cabinet shuffling of 16 August.
